Lexington Computer Repair Blog

I think I’ve mentioned here before why I got into computer repair, it’s because I like helping people. I’ve got a skill for fixing computer problems, people need help – it works. Trust me when I tell you that you shouldn’t do this for this money, let’s just leave it at that.

I normally get one or two calls a week from people with problems that can be solved pretty simply over the phone. If it’s something that I can spend 5-10 minutes with someone and get their problem fixed, why have them schlep their computer into the shop and charge them a service fee for a simple issue? I just can’t see it; and I know the way I’d like to be treated if it was me, so if I can I will just walk them through a quick solution. Honestly, I don’t know if this idea scales. That is, if I started to get 20 non-revenue calls a week like this, would I still feel so eleemosynary? I’m not sure, but I have increased my advertising emphasis on “free advice” so we’ll have to see what happens going forward.

Actually, after only a few hours I got some feedback on this strategy. At 11:30 last night my business phone rang. I hesitated to answer it, but I was so curious about who would call me at that late hour and what would be on their mind I couldn’t help myself so I picked it up. It turned out that it was a guy named David from Oklahoma who had a problem with the sound on his computer. I think he had just spent his last cent on a new Hard Drive and his computer wasn’t working and he was desperate. I guess he had called some of the 24/7 services and they of course won’t help you with anything until you turn over your credit card. Who knows how many repair shops he had called before he found me. I helped him find the drivers he needed on the web and heard back from him the next day that everything was up and working.

A steady diet of these kinds of calls won’t put bread on the table or get baby a new pair of booties, but I was happy to help David out of a pinch. As I said, that’s why I do this job.

Last night I was checking out the latest news on Swine Flu or Farah Fawcett or something and I saw at ad for Kroger. I seldom click on ads but this one was offering coupons and hey we shop at Kroger anyway so why not save some money (we’re not exactly pulling down rockstar salaries here in the independant computer repair business). In order to print the coupons, Kroger (and their partner coupons.com) force you to install some sort of printing software.

Hang on, I thought, why do I need special software to print a coupon? Kroger’s website claimed that it was in order to print the special bar code that their scanners require. Now, anyone who has flown in the last 5 years knows that you can print your own tickets and boarding passes at home now. These boarding passes have very elaborate bar codes on them that identify the holder the class of the ticket, its origin, etc. You’re telling me a 50-cent coupon for Kraft Macaroni and Cheese requires a more sophisticated system? I don’t think so.

Kroger’s download page states that the software doesn’t collect any personal information, however they’ve already lied to me about requiring it to print a coupon so why should I believe this? Moreover, my AntiVirus software is flagging the software as spyware this morning.

You can read more about this coupon software topic on DSLReports (including a message from the company’s Chief Marketing Officer) if you would like to see further discussion. I’ve written an email to Kroger about this. Will include their response (if any) here. In the meantime, to my customers, I would recommend not installing an “coupon printing” software from Kroger, Kraft or Coupons.com

It’s not that I resent it, well that’s a lie really. It’s not like I started my own business because no one else would hire me or that I’m virtually unemployable…well wait, that’s not true either – OK, let’s start this again.

I started my own computer repair business for three main reasons:

1. I enjoy helping people
2. I’m pretty good at fixing computers
3. I like being my own boss

We’ve tried a number of ways of getting our name out there to the right people at the right time; we’ve flyered, got involved in charity events, networked and all that. A key part of getting your business in front of people who need computer help now is The Google. In order to attract a lot of computer repair business using flyers people have to not only read your flyer, as opposed to throwing it out immediately, but they also have to save it until they need your service. I figure that a flyer is, on average, good for a couple weeks at best and then it’s gone. Other methods similarly require your prospect to remember your website, or phone number or name. But with Google, someone with a problem is looking for your services – right now. It’s a great selling opportunity and the best way I know for a small start-up business to reach prospective customers.

The Trouble With Adwords

Of course it would be great to be the first item in Google’s oranic listings when someone needs viruses removed or a laptop fixed or a desktop computer repaired, but that’s a pretty difficult thing to do (and a whole industry has built up around it called SEO, Search Engine Optimisation). The other way to get yourself in front of Googlers is through Adwords, those advertisements on the top and right side of the Google results page. You can read all about Adwords on Wikipedia, but the general idea is that you agree to pay Google a fee for every person that clicks on your little ad on their results page.

There are lots of moving parts in how these Adwords work and basically only Google knows what they are. The two main levers for a small business are placement, how high up on the page is your ad is listed, and price, how much does it cost you when someone clicks on your ad. Now with the Yellow Pages, you have a price list based on the size of your ad, its placement on the page, whether its in colour or monochrome etc., with this information you can make a business decision about what you want to spend and exactly what you will get for it. But Adwords doesn’t work like that, its more like, um…let’s see, what can I compare it to? Oh I know… Remember that scene from “Eyes Wide Shut” where Tom

Welcome to Google Adwords

Cruise is in that forboding mysterious room with all the guys in cloaks, hoods and masks pretending to be one of them? They are all standing around in a circle with the Grand Poobah there in the middle performing some kind of ancient, secret (and possibly demonic) ceremony. Now, imagine that you are Tom Cruise, bidding on Adwords against all those cult members with the Grand Poobah calling the shots in some foreign and ancient language. That’s how Adwords works.

While neither I nor anyone else knows exactly how Adwords works, other than that it maximises Google’s revenues, they do give you some hints:

• How you word the title to your ad is important
• How you word your ad is important
• The words you use on your website are important
• Other things that you can’t control are important

All these important things combine to determine how much you pay and how good your results with Adwords are. Other than the fact that there are no hard and fast rules for these things, only vague suggestions, the problem is that rather than writing my titles, ads and website for my prospective customers, I have to write it for Google. Back in my past corporate life when I was in charge of marketing software products, I would take my ideas and concepts to the CEO for approval. It didn’t matter how clever or how effective they might be, if the CEO didn’t like the concepts, none of my prospects would ever see them.

Of course anyone with a real job knows this, you work to please your boss. Well folks, it’s the same way in a tiny business as well, if you don’t write your ads and website for Google, no one is ever going to see them. Now maybe I’m not smarter than Google, but I think my customers are. I think they recognise humour, irony, sincerity, professionalism, integrity and trustworthiness. Google’s an amazing outfit with more power than just about any entity on earth, but I don’t think their machines know anything about these concepts Alas.